Before a Year and a Day
by fiberkitty
Summary: Before they switched roles, Edward and Jasper were just a new couple finding their way in their relationship as boyfriends as well as a Dom and Sub. What made Jasper fall for Edward in his heart as well as onto his knees? What made Edward first pick up a collar and cuffs for his new boyfriend? This is their story. AU-human. Complete.


**Before a Year and a Day**

**By Fiberkitty **

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Twilight nor its characters. No copyright infringement is intended.

This story was written for the LadyKT for a FGB Donation she made way too long ago for the time it took me to get this story right. This is draft 16. For those who've read A Year and a Day, there are Dom/Sub themes in this series. If you haven't, well, there are D/S themes. Start with this story, then go to my profile and click over to A Year and a Day over at TWCS or email me via my website contact info with the story you'd like. I'll send it over in a pdf, epub, or word doc- your choice.

**JPOV**

I'd love to say we grew up together, that we lost our innocence together as we slowly became more than friends. I'd love to say we had time to fall in love before we fell into his bed. I'd love to spin a tale of romance and roses; instead, I'm staring down into beautifully uncommon, green eyes as this friend of Alice's sucks my cock in the corner of a crowded room.

#

I didn't plan on meeting anyone here. Fuck, I didn't plan on hooking up with anyone here. This wasn't my scene. My last relationship had fallen apart miserably when I expressed an interest in voyeurism, if not even trying just one night of swapping. I had felt that twenty-two was far too young to settle down.

Well, I can certainly say that it wasn't "settling down" to have this maybe twenty-four year old red head shove me against the wall and tell me all he wanted to do to me.

"You are the sexiest man I've ever seen. I've been watching you since I arrived. When I noticed you watching the men, I had to corner Ali and ask about you, Jasper. It's probably the coconut rum Bella was plying me with, or the jello shots, but I want to drop on my knees before you and worship that hard ridge I can see bulging through your jeans. Can I do that, Jasper? Will you let me lick my way down your shaft until my nose is buried against your skin? You're shaved, aren't you? You look like the kind to shave. It doesn't matter. I want to swallow your cock until you're coming, and I want it to be so good that you are yelling out my name so loud that everyone turns to watch us."

He took my lack of a response as acquiescence. Sudden arousal stole my tongue.

I couldn't stop the groaning; the moans erupted as his fingers slid inside my jeans to lift out my balls until they rested atop the waistband of my lowered boxers. "Oh God!" The words dropped off my lips like the saliva dripping from his lower lips as he worked my cock.

He pulled off me with a wet sound that made me even harder, if it was possible. "It's Edward, though God works for now."

Edward.

I couldn't resist grabbing the shimmering copper strands of hair, and I pulled him harder onto me when his lips just teased the head of my erection. Edward swallowed me down again, the pressure he applied seeming to go through my shaft and settle in my belly, tugging my climax nearer with each swipe of his tongue.

Slim fingers slid below, pressing just shy of where I wanted them. The hint of a smile at the edges of his reddening mouth showed that he knew what he was doing to me. "Edward!" I gasped as he timed a harder suck with sliding one fingertip against my entrance.

After having been so quiet before, avoiding most of the party-goers, I was gaining an audience. A couple I'd turned down stood about five feet to the side, his hands pressing against his shiny underwear while she had one hand squeezing her chest and the other up her short skirt.

Edward pulled off me and smirked as my hips thrust forward, seeking more of his mouth. "You're mine now, aren't you, Jasper? You'd let me do anything I want to do, as long as I keep making you feel good." His tongue made a wet stripe along the underside of my cock. "And I do want you to feel good. I want you to revel in pleasure."

No amount of tugging on his hair could make Edward hurry from his slow-paced worship. "Say you're mine, Jasper." Green eyes smoldered with mischief and lust as he licked along the head. His finger continued its slow stroking, teasing me with pressure but no penetration.

I gave in. "I'm yours, Edward. Just fucking suck me again, and I'll do whatever the hell you want."

"Good boy." His lips met my base again, and he swallowed.

I was done for.

Edward came off me with a wet hum. He reached up and pulled me down for a kiss, his finger still rubbing circles, and I could taste me on his lips and tongue. "Jasper, why don't we take this someplace a little more private?" His finger pressed in slightly, showing me what he wanted.

I nodded dumbly; I would have followed him anywhere. I really wanted to get my hands, and later my ass, on his dick.

Edward had other things in mind. He drove a sleek sports car, and we made several traffic violations as we drove into the warehouse district and slid down a ramp to a private parking lot. I never saw the handcuffs until I had closed the door behind me and he reached for me. In the ten steps to the elevator, he had me cuffed and on my knees, crawling after him as he smiled and beckoned me forward. He'd shown me the key before my brief acknowledgement and slid it into his pocket in the time between two heartbeats.

I was never into bondage, had never tried it with the men or occasional women I dated outside of a tie over one guy's eyes as I led him to a surprise picnic. I liked having my hands free to grab, hold, stroke, scratch… Having my hands bound was akin to torture.

But this, following Edward as he leaned back against the mirrored wall of the elevator and palmed his cock through his pants, I was willing to do everything and anything he wanted. Fire immolated any resistance I may have felt. Aching knees fell away as I looked at the desire he openly displayed.

"Jasper, I have to admit, I've never done this before—picking somebody up at a party, the handcuffs, anything. I've been improvising from the moment I saw you. I mean, I've been to a few workshops on it, but …" Edward trailed off with a shrug. "It just feels right."

I mimicked his shrug as much as the cuffs would allow. "You're doing a damn fine job, as you can see." Making an exaggerated look down my body, I slid a knee forward into the elevator and just had my other leg in when the door began to close.

"Ungh!" I let out a sound that was half-complaint but was really a plea for more as his foot lifted up into my cock and balls. My body was still on edge from his lips and hands, and for a moment I worried I'd come in my pants like a high school boy instead of a college graduate who had been around the block more than a few times.

"Good to know. And it's 'Sir' when we're like this." Uncertainty glinted in his eyes, but need glowed behind that.

"Yes, Sir," I replied. If it meant coming, I'd call him whatever the fuck he wanted.

I damn near purred when his fingers landed in my hair and tugged just right. My scalp slightly burned with the pressure of each strand that now curled around Edward's fingers. The soothing scratch of his nails ran down my back as he released the handful and reached for all accessible flesh.

The ridge of his cock was right in front of my face, and I couldn't resist. I closed my mouth around it, pants and all, and blew out a breath of warm air. He jumped and melted at the same time, and I bit down lightly, giving him some pressure. The creatively composed expletives danced through several octaves before becoming a steady whine.

"I…" He trailed off and reached for the keypad of the elevator, pressed one of the numbers and then slid his hand down in his back pocket for some sort of card. I was too busy worshipping what I could of his erection to care what it took for him to get us to a bed. My own dick was harder than it had been in years, and I knew my boxers were soaked with precome. I was too turned on for them to not be.

His fingers tangled in my waves, tugging and pulling. "Jasper … House this way … Fuck!" He let out a whimper of a sigh when I rubbed my face along his cock, wanting to touch it. Edward pushed me away and smiled, swiping his card as the elevator came to a stop, and led me out into what looked like a minimalistic palace. White and the sleekest black I'd ever encountered assaulted my senses as couches formed along the edges of the moonlight swathed room. Shimmering gold peeked out from frames and accents, warming the icy depths as my eyes adjusted and picked out blue flaws in the white marble floor.

"This is mine, for now. I'm renting it from my parents while I finish grad school."

I wanted to ask him who his parents were to have a place like this, but the desire in his eyes killed all the questions I might have asked. They didn't really matter, not compared to the chemistry I had building with him.

There were few words as he led me, still walking on my knees behind him, to a room of oceanic blues and pale greens swirling around a black bed that dominated the space. Edward stripped unhurriedly, his fingers slow and methodical as he unveiled inch after inch of creamy skin to my sight.

Naked, he slipped to my side and undid the cuffs, lightly rubbing my hands and wrists. "Okay?" he whispered, waiting for my answer. With my affirmation, his smile fell a little, becoming something between smirk and pout that I knew was a rare expression for him to make. "Undress for me."

"Yes, Sir." I had a hard time recognizing the lusty shake to my voice. I stayed on my knees, shifting side to side to slip out of my pants. There was a tension in the air as I denuded, something bigger than two horny men who wanted to get off.

His cock bobbed out in front of him, and I moved for him in a graceless lunge that was more of a forward dive than a crawl. I needed Edward.

"Bed?" he asked.

My nod made the room spin, so fast my head moved in response. I was on him the moment he sat down. We laughed as he fell back onto the plush blankets, my hips straddling his so that his cock and my balls became well-acquainted, my hands on either side of his head, and our lips communing between sharp nips of teeth and soothing licks. I rocked my hips against his, relishing the hiss I earned.

Edward rolled, pushing me onto my back, and I let him. Uncertainty wavered in his eyes for a moment as he reached for a bedside table. "I know Alice and Bella wouldn't let anyone play without verifying a lack of communicable infections, but…" His words ended with a blush. "I've never had unprotected sex, am tested regularly, and my most recent results are current as of last week. I've had no partners in two months."

He sat back on his knees, holding a handful of condoms and looked at me with a softer gaze. "Under usual circumstances, I wouldn't have given you the blowjob without this conversation first. I'm not sure what you broke in me." The shy smile was endearing.

I leaned up on my elbows, a blush of my own heating my cheeks. "Alice and I stopped by the clinic last week so I could get tested after having lunch together. I'm disease free, and other than some alcohol earlier tonight, I'm drug free."

Edward was beautiful, all pale angles with a rosy flush slipping down his neck to his chest, and then the deeper coloring on his cock. "You're staring."

My blurted admission of how beautiful I thought he was granted me a kiss in response. His fingers stroked my face, a tender touch amid rushed pleasure and spiking need. "Jasper, I want to fuck you. Do you want this too?" As he spoke, his palm wrapped around my member, holding without being insistent.

"Yes." I lifted my face closer to his, whispering "Sir" against his lips.

He smiled, hardening his mouth against mine as we kissed.

It was a blur from there. His fingers coaxed my cock to full hardness before he flattened his body along mine and stroked our lengths together with firm pulls of his hand.

I bit his shoulder as he sucked a spot along my neck, needing to do something with my mouth—screaming did not seem like an option. Edward sighed against my jaw before scooting back to kneel between my thighs and slick me with lubricant. Care went into his preparation, teasing stretches and touches as he readied me for him. His eyes seemed glazed as he looked down at me, tongue sweeping across his lower lip as his fingers wrapped around his condom-sheathed cock and rubbed it in the slickness he'd applied on me.

"How —"

I stopped his question by arching my hips until the blunt head pushed against me. He exhaled as he thrust forward, forcing me down into the bed with the weight of his body and the burning pressure that has no equal.

I hooked my legs up over his hips and pulled him down so that we were rocking more than thrusting. His sticky fingers entangled with mine as laughter-rich kisses drowned out the occasional squeak of Edward's bedframe. The ache soon gave way to sharp pleasure, and I punctuated our hard, shared breaths with gasps I could not contain.

It was over too soon: the friction of his stomach on my cock, the pressure inside, the look on his face when we both happened to have open eyes. I groaned and stretched my legs, trying to get Edward deeper, needing to be even closer as my released wet heat slicked our abdomens.

"Fuck!" He whimpered and thrust forward hard enough to make our skin slap together, his hands slipping down to grip my shoulders.

We lay there, sticky, satiated, and sore, until his softened flesh slid free. I don't remember falling asleep in his arms, but the clock displayed that an hour or more had passed before his whispered "Shower?" coaxed me from the half-dreams I had fallen into.

"Yeah."

Awkward silence ensued as we shared a huge shower that reminded me of a personal spa more than an at home bath. Edward blushed as he passed me his soap, a peppermint and rosemary syrup that lathered as it mixed with the steaming water. There was a shyness—endearing as it was—to his smile that had me blushing in return.

"We can shower again in the morning, if you want to stay the night?" Those evergreen eyes were framed by wet lashes, and I found myself nodding even as protests that he didn't need to play host for a one night stand fell off my tongue unspoken. "I'm shit for cooking; I normally order in or just have cereal, but I have some frozen waffles and berries. Or, there's Captain Crunch in the cabinet. And, um, I'm rambling, aren't I?"

I stopped him with a kiss. "Maybe a little. If you have coffee, or there's a Starbucks nearby, I'll be fine with anything. And I'd love to spend the night- once we change the sheets. Or, I can make you pancakes if you have any basic ingredients?" Edward's face took on a deer in headlights look—eyes wide, mouth slack. "Okay, no cooking. Eggos, berries, and your company will be fine."

#

And that was how I ended up making breakfast for Edward every Saturday and Sunday morning. What started as a one night stand and breakfast became him asking for my number and me not thinking he'd call—but he did. Later the same day. We had pizza at his glass and silver table out on the balcony, sipped cheap beer from goblets better suited to four-digit bottles of champagne, and then fucked in the middle of the "parlor" on the rug beside his piano.

It was our thing for almost a year. Neither of us dated someone else, but we also didn't talk about commitment or what would happen once he finished grad school and I finished my less strenuous approach to my undergrad. Working full time and attending part time college was more my speed, allowing me more time with Edward on weekends and the occasional weekday evening. "Exclusive uncertainty," was Alice's term for what Edward and I had.

He had his second degree days before I was handed proof of my first, but it was Edward that I had eyes for, not my diploma or tasseled cap.

#

I saw the red rose held aloft and almost-floating above the masses towards me before Edward was visible. Though tall, he was masked by the crowd of graduates in their navy caps with scarlet tassels that were mimicked in lipsticks so obscene that the women's lips seemed to offer up promises of sex with each word, no matter how innocent. When the glossy gold highlights of his auburn hair came into view, so many unmeant apologies were made as I shoved bystanders out of my fucking way. I had to get to him.

"Hi." Anything else he might have said was cut off as I kissed him. He came when he didn't think he'd be able to, having said something about his parents and appointments… None of it mattered when I had him in my arms and his lips on mine.

Catcalls and whispers surrounded us, and I tried to ignore them when Edward's hands slid inside my robe to grab my ass. His amused chuckle vibrated against my lips, tingling and tickling as it became a hum, before he pulled back and kissed my forehead. "So, Jasper, I have something I need your opinion on. How soon can we get out of here so I can show you?"

Yet again, he'd kissed me stupid, reducing me to a quivering ball of need that would follow him anywhere. "I'm done here, Sir." I whispered against his neck.

"Naughty. Come on then. I parked by your bike if you want to follow me."

Adrenaline coursed through me as we played leap frog in the traffic. I dodged a blue coupe that was going a mile or two below the speed limit. Edward passed me on the right a few blocks later, nodding his head to the left to let me know we'd be turning soon.

I waited until I saw that his signal went on and then sped up to squeeze into the gap between his car and oncoming traffic, sliding through the intersection first and making the turn. His laugh was sharp and infectious as he pulled up beside me on the side street, joy painting his cheeks in a crimson glow.

"You win, Jas! Follow me," he yelled out the window before releasing the brake.

Sunshine, racing, and Edward were the trifecta of lust for me. Prayers for a secluded parking spot and sweaty, window steaming, car sex thrummed through me with each bump in the road. The more I had him, or rather that he had me, the more I wanted. There was no getting bored with him, not in sex or in whatever it was that we had.

Edward was fucking brilliant (and brilliant at fucking), and he always had something new for us to go out and experience. It wasn't always about the excitement, though. We curled up on his couch or my futon to watch 80s horror flicks as easily as we did go out to some upper echelon restaurant and pretend we belonged there as we ate T-bone steaks my mom would have divided up for the whole family, baked potatoes with so many toppings each was a meal in and of itself, and then made out at the table as gawkers stared while we nibbled on each other as much as we did the chocolate confection with some French name I'll never remember. It tasted better on his tongue anyways.

I followed Edward into a quiet subdivision with well-spaced out homes, each surrounded with verdant forests carving out private glades. He pulled into one of these drives with a large, white manor at the end, and parked in front of a silver filigree picket fence that lined the sidewalk. It wouldn't have kept out anything larger than a yippy ankle-biter, but the house looked the kind to have one of those pampered pooches.

"Edward, where are we?"

He smiled and pointed to the door where a large C was carved into bronze. "This is my parents' home. I figured it was finally time I brought my boyfriend home to meet my family. Come on; they're expecting us." His hand slid into mine with the sort of familiarity I had never noticed us having, and his smile when I took the first step was so bright that it erased any nervousness I felt.

I'd have followed him anywhere just to see that beaming grin again.

#

The late lunch had gone well. Esme and Carlisle were so happy to finally meet Edward's boyfriend that they made me promise to come by again and again. Weekly meals became the norm, and I was all too happy to be made such a welcomed part of their family. Esme was nothing but gracious and warm, and Carlisle loved having someone to talk sports with. Edward had no interest.

The family meal had not been the highlight of my graduation day, however. We'd left Edward's car with his parents and taken my bike, with Edward giving the occasional direction until we reached the second of four locations—a house. It sprawled on a tiny piece of land, an architectural nightmare of many remodelings inside and out, so that the home itself had no idea what it was supposed to look lie.

"It has a walk in shower big enough to lie down in to fuck," was his reply as we walked up to the door. We stood there, staring at a hideous cranberry shaded door, and he reached for the numerical lock that hid the key.

"Don't we need a realtor?"

My boyfriend laughed. "Most people do. My mom and Kate, the realtor, are jogging buddies. Well, gossiping buddies who jog together in the early mornings to keep their mimosa breakfast habit from going to their asses. I promised we wouldn't track in mud, do anything the owners would not appreciate, or let anyone know of her favor. If anyone asks, I'm with K&G Realty." Edward pulled out a slip of paper and punched in the noted passcode before retrieving the key.

"So, what are we doing here anyways?" I finally found the courage to ask.

"Picking out a house of our own. I ran an analysis of all available properties in our area, decided we'd both like something older—with character—instead of the new prefab shit everywhere. I don't want something that belongs to my folks. I know that I came into some money from graduating, but I also earn enough at work to cover the mortgage alone. You're working, and once we agree on a place, splitting the mortgage would still be cheaper than what you're paying at your apartment. And, um, it's not an apartment."

He looked at me with that shy smile that shut me up every time. "Besides, Jasper, I think it's beyond time that we go public as a, well, us. We've been together almost one and half years. While for some that might be fast for moving in together, we already live together two or three days a week, more when work and school allowed. I don't see why we can't both save money, live together, and work on the next phase of our lives and our relationship together."

I was dumbfounded, completely blown away by the course of the day's events as he finally got the paint flecked key to turn in the lock. When he opened the door, we looked in at scratched tile floors, hideous mauve paint, and a ceiling that showed signs of old water damage. I couldn't hold in a laugh. My small apartment was better than this.

"Yeah. Let's go check out the other places Kate and I discussed. If not those, we'll go do some condo hunting next week." There was a hopeful look to his face—with an arched eyebrow, soft gaze, and parted lips.

"I…Um…Sure." I kissed him, heat and teeth, tongue and affection. "You and me. Just nothing pink."

"Not even your ass?"

We'd progressed to spanking along with the handcuffs for half our nights together. During the day, I was his—no, we were equally one another's, but the dynamic changed. Our nights where I called Edward "Sir" and we explored bondage (and some very light pain) were the most intense. They mimicked our daytime and non-Sir time together, where Edward took care of my needs, and I took care of his everything. I made sure that Edward wanted for nothing longer than it took me to procure or perform.

He researched via books, websites, talking to people, and we often had a date night out at a club where Doms and their Subs had space on a central stage. We never had the guts to go that public with our arrangement, but we weren't opposed to watching the couples and then recreating the parts we were comfortable with once we were home.

"Edward, do any of the places on your list have a walk in closet or something? Someplace separate for our 'Sir time?'"

#

The third house we looked at was perfect. It needed some handiwork, a lot of elbow grease, and an entirely new kitchen, but it was amazing. It still is.

Edward and I closed on the home three months later, taking a month of overlap to move my belongings out of my apartment as we transitioned to fully living together. The best part was always waking up in his arms. The worst? I noticed the late nights he put in at work more. He noticed that I was horrible at picking up the bathroom. I left my cologne on the counter after the fifth time he'd asked me to put it away, earning me a much less playful spanking than normal. It was also the night he became my Master in all aspects of our life together.

#

My ass hurt as I pulled the tights up and smoothed the breeches down. I felt lucky that the local Renfaire was a lot of walking and not much sitting. Even for a show, I could conveniently drag my feet until there were few spaces left to sit until later in the day.

I'd earned the spanking— and the puffy eyes from crying. Edward had gotten stronger. Better. Or maybe I was finally feeling it. Or maybe I just wanted to feel it more. The pain was negligible. I'd felt worse. But, disappointing (annoying) him is what hurt. I wanted to make him happy. I wanted him to be proud of me, like I was of him.

"How are you, Jasper?" Edward's fingers danced along my cheekbones and down to my lips. "Was I too hard?"

"No, Master." I knelt before him, resting my forehead upon the taut muscles beneath the tunic he wore.

There was a faint hiss as he exhaled, and I hid my smile. I loved the power I had over him like this. I was the one on my knees, but he was the one who loved me enough to know that I needed to be. The mental chains we had woven about me were a comfort. They gave me a limit, a set of rules with consequences when broken—but they bound us together just as much as they encased my control.

"I have something for you, my pet. You'll have many things before the day is out, and this is the first gift. Come here," he requested as he strode across the floor. Edward's bare feet made the softest slap on the wood with each step, squeaking on one of the old boards near the dresser.

Having not been told otherwise, I crawled to him, looking up only as I was within range to touch. The heat of his hand filled my chest with longing as he stroked my shoulder. "I love you, Jasper."

"I love you, too, Edward." The words came easily after a six months of using them and two years into our relationship. We had progressed slowly, but I had no doubts of our love for one another. We had built something real, something solid, that I knew could withstand just about anything. Even another sub, for a short time.

Edward had been worried that I was lost in some thrall to him, and so at Bella's next party, we'd both set out to find someone else to play with. Just once.

It hadn't worked.

No one interested me the way he did, so I sat at the counter top bar, watching the room revolve around my boyfriend the way it always did. Men and women were throwing themselves at him as if they thought my distance meant we had broken up. He'd laugh and explain that it was just a one night thing we were trying.

I'd watched for about two hours, always wondering if this man or that one would gain Master's approval. Wondering if this was the man I'd hate for the night. The hate didn't come.

Oh, there was one man, but I couldn't do more than pity him.

He had a dental dam on and was tonguing Edward's ass for all he was worth, but my boyfriend did little more than pant and ask for more. His cock never got interested. Sex with Edward was as much a mental exercise as it was a physical. If his mind wasn't involved, neither was his dick.

I'd given up watching to go soak in the tub with a friend who hosted regularly attended spanking parties. Edward liked passing me around to bend over his friends' knees. It had been a lesson to both of us, the first time, as we learned the emotional and intricate aspect of Dom and Sub not always being about mutual pleasure. Things changed that night. I learned how important his approval was to me, how much I liked releasing that level of control to him, while still being the puppet master, even if he held the strings. With our exclusivity ensured, Edward and I had moved forward with the varying degrees of submission, ever forward but with just as many moments of being two people in love as we were something of a more formal arrangement.

Holding those thoughts in mind, I eased myself onto the car seat and tried to control my wince with each bump in the road Edward found. I think he's purposely seeking them, I thought to myself. Each welt burned anew as he rounded the corner to the free parking field and parked in the shade.

It was a good half mile walk or more to the gates, but the shade and chance to escape Mundania were what we sought. In those steps, we left cars, phones, television, and the world behind us. We entered an Elizabethan village where he wasn't the son of a rich doctor, and I wasn't a working class boy from the wrong side of the tracks. We were just another couple, one in costume at that, amid a bustling festival of already tipsy tourists and paid actors.

Edward and I had only gone five feet or so before he stopped me to straighten the first gift, a white gold chain that fasted about my neck. The metal whispered with each movement I made, reminding me of my positions in Edward's life. I was precious to him; the craftsmanship that had gone into faceting the sapphire and emerald to make a visually seamless heart and setting those into a subtle lock design—it was astounding.

"Thank you, Sir," I whispered.

His answering shy smile was everything I would ever need. "Just wait until you see what else you are getting." The arched eyebrow told me my partner was in a spending sort of mood, one where any discussion of budget would have me either sleeping alone or at the very least emotionally closed out for a night as he pouted.

We danced down the gravel and wood chip paths to the various minstrels and troupes performing, steps light and hands grabbing as we reveled in the first days of summer. The leaves filtered down shadows and shimmering sun onto Edward's face as he laughed and I spun him in a circle. It was days like these that made me immensely grateful that we could both act like children from time to time.

He made a final twirl as the song ended and drew me in for a short kiss. "We need to get to Emmett's booth." Edward broke free of my grasp and began jogging down the path to the row of tent merchants in front of the Mud Show and back towards the pirate ship, leaving me to chase him. The leather worker was a friend of Edward's, and while we'd met at a few parties, his work scared me off getting to know him.

Emmett's size was intimidating, as was his work making bondage gear and toys, but his personality was as bright as his smile. He and his wife were both prominent fixtures in the community Edward and I had enmeshed ourselves. I was equal parts terrified and excited—and trying to hide a swelling bulge in the leggings Edward had requested I wear—to think of Edward buying me something from Emmett.

Edward led me into a dimly lit shop front with well-worn wood planks for a floor, and a corset and layered skirts clad Rosalie behind the counter. "Good morrow, m'Lords. I pray thee find our humble wares worthy of your purse. We accept Lady Visa and Master Card as well as more peasant means of procurement."

Her smile was bright, eyes sliding between us and another customer, and she motioned to a curtain leading to the employee area. "Lord Emmett is in the back of our shop. He has been awaiting your arrival, m'Lord Edward. Please take a seat behind the curtain, and I will fetch some refreshment while he readies your order."

I leaned against the edge of the stairs leading up to the storage space above the shop, waiting on Emmett to return as Edward perused the private collection. The smell of leather bordered on being overwhelming, but that may have been as much my imagination of what Edward would do to me with them as it was the actual scent. He fingered almost every piece, smiling as he picked one up. Seeing him with a finger on each end of the flogger had me the perfect mix of excited, nervous, and needy.

"What do you think of this one?" Master slid a strand of black leather down my arm, and we both shivered at the sibilant sound of its journey. "Yes, I think I'll add this flogger to my purchases."

Emmett came out moments later holding two boxes, one large enough to frighten me with visions of what it might contain. Of course it was the first one Edward reached for.

"Thanks, Emm, for making these to specification and for rushing it. I know you're busy with keeping the shelves stocked as it is."

"Never a problem for friends. What do you think?" Emmett grinned as Edward whistled, his face brightening like a kid at Christmas.

"Fuck! It's perfect." Edward pulled a coiled whip from the box, setting the empty wrapping aside as he looked over it. Green and black were wrapped around each other to make one smooth length. The leather looked more like a snake than whip.

"Jas, what do you think?" His eyes held mine until I nodded. No matter what he wanted, my approval was what made the decision.

"Do you remember how I showed you to use it?" The artisan waited until my master answered and checked the space around him before dropping the whip's end and letting the length unfurl in the air with a swoosh and crack.

Edward coiled the whip loosely and set it into the box. His words went beyond repetition as his gaze locked on Emmett's. The lesson was the same one given at each of Emmett's workshops: "How one handles the whip makes the difference between controlled pain and an actual injury. Stop at a welt, never let it hit open skin. Never use it, or any instrument, in anger or frustration— always from a place of trust, love, and the proper Top space."

I felt my lips fall into a jealous pout for just a moment as Emmett gave his approval and my master beamed. That smile was supposed to be mine. I knew if I let my annoyance show I'd pay for it later. I was Edward's and he was mine, no matter the attention we might show another.

"Jasper, come here, please." Edward held out his hand to me, smiling as I let no hesitation slow my steps. "This is your second present." He took the second box from Emmett and opened it as I approached. "Will you wear these as well as the necklace to show you're mine?"

Leather cuffs lay nestled in tissue paper, grommets along each side to make them lace like Rosalie's corset. A satin ribbon braided through the holes, awaiting a tightening pull. I stammered a response and dropped to my knees with my wrists offered up to Edward. "Yes, Sir."

He slid each one over my hand, tugging the laces until my forearms and wrists were bound in leather. As my gaze slid over them, I noticed the stylized letters of Edward's initials decorating the center. As effective as a tattoo denoting ownership, I was wearing his brand upon my skin. "Thank you, Sir."

Fond fingers ruffled my hair and wrapped a lock into a ringlet. "So beautiful."

"He is," Emmett agreed. "Now, if you'll go settle up the bill and get the fuck out of my shop before you make a sordid scene in front of my vanilla customers, I'd be much obliged."

We stayed until the closing drum jam, and Edward was glorious. There was no other word to describe him. He jumped and writhed in time with the beats, all sense of propriety lost as he gave himself over to the music. He was sex personified.

And he was mine.

As if sensing my thoughts, those green eyes opened and a smooth smile tugged his lips into a welcoming pull in my gut. He reached for me, the foot or so between us seeming too far. "If I asked you to drop to your knees, would you?" Edward's voice surrounded me, drowned out the drums until all I heard were my heartbeat and his words.

"Absolutely, Sir." Images of giving him a blow job in public filled my thoughts. Sucking him in time with the drums became my dream.

"Down then."

I didn't hesitate. My knees protested at the sudden impact but my cock swelled in response. I had no idea what Edward planned, but I knew the consequences of indecent exposure would keep him from taking it too far. At least I hoped so. I didn't need that on my permanent record no matter what I wanted to do to my master.

"Do you love me, Jasper?"

"Yes. Do you even need to ask?" Annoyance distorted my voice, barely veiling the edge of hurt.

Edward smirked and slid a finger inside the fine chain of my collar and tugged. "Let me rephrase that. Will you still love me if I ask you to trust me completely and follow me to your next gift? Unless you use our safeword, I will not stop once we take one step toward my goal. No amount of pleading will change my mind, just the safeword. Do you understand and agree?"

I nodded and let Edward pull me to my feet. "I trust you, Sir, as long as this is the last thing you've spent money on."

His laugh was childlike delight. "For today as your master, yes. Shall we go?"

I noted the use of master not in general having finished his spending, and rolled my eyes before following him. He really was too much sometimes.

Edward led me to the noble's courtyard where one of the "knights" bowed and ushered us in past the privacy bushes where the queen-actress and her companions were already bodicegasming from taking off the various bodices, corsets, and other garments that made up their costumes. A few whistled as Edward wrapped an arm around me and pushed past a gawker blocking the door in the wooden fencing.

When asked how he had arranged all this, Edward smiled. "My father is on the board and practically owns half the place. The shopkeepers typically go to him for a loan on the building purchase price. He pulled some strings to get me what I wanted to try. There's no sense in buying something until I know we'll both enjoy it. Now, shall we?"

My boyfriend ushered me down a walkway of cigarette butts and random pieces of clothing, counting gateways in barely formed breaths. Three twists and turns around the blockade led us into a garishly painted wall with "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here," followed by "Welcome to Kids' Kingdom."

From our meanderings through the random paths of the faire, I had a pretty idea of where I was being taken. "Fuck me." I was in over my head. Only my trust of Edward — to take care of me, to push my previous notion of my boundaries in a safe way where I could always safeword out of the situation if it was too much, to make me come so hard I saw stars when he decided I could release — had my lips sealed around our word. Of course, saying his father's name would be a mood killer anyway, but the knowledge was reassuring that it would stop his actions if we found a new hard limit or I was overwhelmed with the situation.

When I saw the sheet-covered trampoline and bungees, though, I couldn't move. Bondage at home was one thing; whatever he had planned here was another. "Edward," I began.

"Yes, Love?" He pulled my hand, forcing me to follow or stop things without hesitation.

"I …" I looked over at the unit at the guy who ran it. He was hooking large sheets to the overhead tarp, giving privacy on two sides. Edward wasn't leaving me completely at the mercy of a few hundred strangers being able to watch and getting us arrested. Resolve flooded me. "I just wanted to say I love you, even if I claim otherwise during or after."

He turned to face me fully and rested his forehead on mine, noses touching. Edward was too close for me to see anything but the hint of his freckles and a blurring of green eyes. "I love you too. Are you okay with this?" His voice held the same uncertainty when we first began finding our path into our relationship as both lovers and him as my Dom.

"You're doing this to expand our knowledge of ourselves and discover if it's something we like. I trust you to take care of me. So, I'm okay with this because it's you. You are doing this for me because we both know it's something I need, even if I never knew it before. Just, Sir, if I could request that you go a little easy on my ass, I would be grateful. The spanking this morning..." I explained.

The sheen of self-amusement covered his eyes as he smiled. "You'll remember the discomfort the next time you consider leaving that bottle on the counter, won't you, Jasper?"

"Yes, Sir," I replied.

Edward stripped me except for the tights and had the employee fasten the various buckles and straps. Shown how to reduce the slack in the bungees, Edward waved off the man and double checked the makeshift curtains. Only when assured of our semi-privacy, he stripped down to a thin pair of boxers that hid nothing. He was already hard.

My mouth watered. When I looked down at the edge of the trampoline, a shopping bag of his usual accoutrement was waiting. Washcloths, lube, a water bottle, instant hot packs and cool packs, and pain relieving gel: Edward's portable aftercare set.

"Ready, Pet?" When I nodded so hard my teeth clicked together, Edward began turning the gear that shortened my restraints, lifting me just an inch above the trampoline's surface.

Swinging gently, I had no momentum up or down and even swinging forward and back would have done little. I was helpless. And I was in love with my Dom even more for it. I knew he would make this good, make the uncertainty into pleasure, and make me beg for him. He was a bastard like that. My bastard.

Edward stepped nearer, if it were possible, and I jerked as his warm hand reached beneath me to grab my balls through the tights. Only the look in his eyes kept my "What, no foreplay?" safely unspoken. Pressure built as he pressed up, unbalancing me until I tipped back on the suspension supports. Our bodies aligned.

"I think that's the right height. Just enough off the ground enough to be helpless except for me, and low enough where we can still fuck until you scream my name for everyone to hear."

I whimpered. The flush to his cheeks, the still way he held himself... Edward was taking the time to slip into Top space, the place he slid his emotions and self into so that we could play safely, lovingly, with our full hearts, minds, and bodies involved. Being a Dom was a balancing game, one Edward did beautifully.

Only when he looked at me, his jaw hard and eyes piercing, did I speak. "Master."

His smile was warm but lacked the indulgence he was prone to giving me. "Jasper." He circled me, the trampoline adding a slight bounce to each step. "You look so beautiful, so helpless suspended there."

He opened his costume's pouch with a flick of the leather thong and pulled out a small pocket knife. His eyes met mine in a silent plea to trust him, an action and request he did not need. I trusted him with my life. He held out the thin fabric and pierced the seam until a small hole was made, then tore it with two fingers until the cotton ripped from above my cock to the base of my spine. Edward's fingers wrapped around my length and stroked until I responded to his touch.

The chill of a cock ring slid over me and I shivered; it was even colder against the heat of the day. I hated it and loved it, wanting him even more for the dichotomies he evoked. "You won't come until I say you can." Edward's fingers caught my chin, squeezing just enough to emphasize his point before kissing me softly. "I want you to beg to come; I want to hear every sound I evoke. I want you sobbing with need before I give you my permission."

I nodded, swinging slightly with the motion.

I was helpless. At his mercy, I never felt more powerful. He was doing this for me. For us.

"My plan for today involved the whip I ordered, but seeing your reaction to the flogger, I think I'd rather use it." Edward dropped down to his knees in a free fall ending in a bounce, grabbed the flogger from its resting place on the trampoline, and stood once more as if he were a trained acrobat. He was too fucking graceful for his own good.

"Show —" The word off was almost said, but I bit it back as Edward's hand slapped my cock. The sudden pain would have stopped my speech even if the flash in his eyes didn't catch my tongue.

He seethed, a hiss of sound across my ears before he spoke. "What was that?"

"Nothing, Sir." My eyes focused on his feet and the flush to my erection where it jutted out toward Edward. The silver ring at its base was a binding comfort, making every nerve more sensitive and the veins more prominent with each heartbeat, uncomfortable in its pleasure when he slid the leather tip along my cock.

"I'd love to strike you here," he said while caressing the length with the flogger. "But, I have plans for your dick, ones that don't help me if you're in too much misery to use it."

He teased in alternating strokes and smacks, never in a discernible pattern, so that I could not ready myself for any amount of pain. Between each volley, his fingers tapped out a beat that was neither a sweep of his palm nor a brief grope. He was a maestro of painful seduction.

"You're so beautiful. Do you know that?" Edward smiled at me as he drew a line from the base of my cock to the head and back again. "Not just out here, what anyone can see..." His voice trailed off as one of his hands settled over my chest. "Here, Jasper, where only I can see. You're fragile and demanding, so strong it scares me at times, stubborn as can be, and so soft that you cry at kids' movies. You light up like the morning sky at dawn when I bring you flowers, and your eyes glitter like stars when you kneel before me at night. Thank you for giving me the gift of your trust." His words were both sweet and so ridiculously sappy that I couldn't help smiling in response.

Burning pain slid down my sides as Edward scratched me on his way to his knees. He knelt before me, tongue running over his lower lip as he contemplated what he saw. "You're so hard already, Jasper. If I licked you now, I'm not sure you could hold back. Should I try?" His eyes had slid back behind his mask, green but unfamiliar as my Edward's. "You can be a good boy for me and follow my order, can't you? All I've asked is that you don't come."

Heat enveloped me. One. Two. Three sucks. He pulled off with a loud suctioned pop. It was just long enough to have me straining to get closer, fighting gravity for the momentum to get my cock closer to his mouth.

"You taste so good, Baby. Do you remember the first time I sucked you?" His words oozed with honey, dripping on my skin as he breathed over my cock. "Do you, Jasper?"

I was drunk on lust for him already. "Yes, Sir. You were kneeling like that and had me shoved up against the wall. You had me take you home after, and we fucked all over your apartment after I crawled my way from the car to your bed."

There was a look on his face, the way he glowed as our eyes met. It was devotion. No other word came close. "You were already mine at that point, Jasper. Weren't you?"

I nodded, my voice coming out a whisper. "Yes, Master. I'd have done anything to have you fuck me. And then I fell in love with you along the way."

He licked me before regaining his feet, brushing my mouth with his— my precome on his lips and tongue. "I know you can hold out when I fuck you, and sometimes when I suck you, but can you keep yourself from coming especially with the cock ring on while you fuck me?" Edward's eyebrow arched as my hips thrust forward uncontrollably. "Let's try."

Oh God, I began a litany of prayers as I watched while Edward prepared himself.

Slicked with lube, Edward reached between his legs, sliding one finger in, then two. He pumped them, adding a third as he stretched for me. Each whimper as he readied for my cock had me pulsing harder and harder. I could have come just watching him. There was something about the action, knowing that he could give himself pleasure — that he didn't need me — that pushed me over the edge from just lust and need into passioned delirium.

Tugging pleasure pulsed in my hips, swirled in my stomach, pressed against the squeezing ring. My thighs were tight with the want to thrust. Forward and back my muscles tried to make me swing against the restraints.

I winged as I counted backwards from one hundred while imagining my grandmother in her bathing suit writing the numbers on a blackboard. Nothing worked. This punishment by pleasure was as cruel as the whip would have been.

Feeling he was ready, Edward wiped his hand off on one of the towels and then drizzled more lube on my cock. It was as cold as the ring had been, but warmed beneath his gentle touch. "You cannot come. Do you understand?" A sticky, slick finger traced a circle on my chest, then flicked each nipple before he started talking again. "I'll give you to Bella and Alice as a dessert tray for their next ten parties if you displease me."

Remembering the waif of a girl they'd used to serve tiny cups of chocolate mousse and imagining what they'd do to me was mortifying. They would all know I had let down my master.

Hell. I was in Hell, and Edward was my fallen angel that made the pain into desired bliss.

"Yes, Sir. I understand." I wondered if I could safeword my way out of being a human serving platter and tried not to chuckle when I imagined him in the same position.

I was still biting my lip when he turned around and aligned his ass and my dick.

Slow.

Tight.

Hotter than anything.

Magic.

Fucking torture.

Fucking ecstasy.

Not even an inch slid in before he pulled a fraction off me and then sank lower. Repeating the frustrating motion, Edward took what felt like ten minutes to have me fully inside him. I wasn't sure if I wanted to sob in frustration or for just how damn good he felt around me.

"Fuck, Jas. It's been so long since you were inside me. We need to do this more often."

His talking made holding back that much harder. I had no leverage to move; humping against him like a dog but lacking any pressure in the movement was the limit of my ability. I wanted to fuck him into silence so I could concentrate on not coming. The ring made every motion more noticeable. I was as sensitive to the slightest ripple of his muscles as if he were clenching around me.

My balls ached.

I ached everywhere.

"Jasper, you feel so good. I love it when you're fucking me almost as much as when I'm inside you." Edward leaned away from me, seemingly knowing when he was almost off me, then pushed back quickly until our hips met in a bouncing slap. "Mmm." His hum reverberated through his body, a deep rumble of need. "So good." Edward fell into repeated words, demands for more, even though all I could do was try to not spend inside him.

Blood welled inside my mouth where I bit my cheek, and I tried to lift my torso by pulling with my arms. The slight angle had him hissing. I was winning. The pain in my mouth and the burning of my muscles was worth knowing that I was most likely hitting his prostate on every third thrust or so. He couldn't fake that kind of shudder and whine.

When his hand slid off a sweaty thigh and began stroking his cock, a motion I could guess only by the steady movement of his elbow. It was too much. The panted curses, the guttural praise, the way he began jerking forward and back on my erection as he got closer and closer to climaxing... It was all too much.

My ass was still sore from my morning punishment; I don't think I'd ever been that hard before in my life, and I had to hold back from coming the way he'd demanded. I almost loathed him from the depths of my need.

"Edward! Please. Sir. Let me." My words were half sobs as I bit spot after spot on my lips and the inside of my cheek. My teeth ground together as I used pain to stave off the inevitable.

"Do you need to come, my pet?" Grunts and whispers were louder than the slapping flesh as he fucked himself harder on me. I knew he was close by the fevered flush creeping down his back , exertion and blood flow turning him as red as his cock had to be.

"Please, Sir. Edward, please. Let me come!"

"Ung. Not— yet." Selfish in the best of ways, he clenched around me and groaned, his body stilling except for mild tremors from the trampoline rocking beneath his feet.

My stomach felt as hard as my cock. I was holding back my orgasm by sheer muscle control. I was losing. "P-p-please," I sobbed.

"Okay, Jasper. You may come." He leaned forward, sliding off me in a slick, tight pull.

It was enough. I let go and the world swam.

My eyes rolled back as the knot exploded in me. Pulse after pulse splashed onto my master's back. Sex—that musky, summer smell— was everywhere.

I don't remember being released from the makeshift suspension gear, but I remember Edward's arms around. I remember the feeling of warmth and security as he lowered us to the sheet and wrapped towels around me and held me close. I'll always remember the whispered praise and words of love he made while cleansing me with a damp cloth.

This was the real thing, master or not, and one day, I would have the chance to show him how much he meant to me.

#

It took a few more years before I could begin calculating my plan to propose to Edward. It was after dinner with Emmett and Rosalie, when he asked Edward about switching instead of it being "Dom time" vs "Edward time."

The "Edward time" as Emmett had called it, was eighty percent of our time together. Sure, there were unvoiced hints in his behavior that influenced me, and vice versa, but we were a balanced couple in and out of bed, and in and out of Edward being a Dom versus my boyfriend.

He was as much my everything as a strong relationship could support, and he worried that he wasn't in the right space consistently to make sure we were both getting what we needed. Or more so, that he could properly give me what I needed.

It was always more about me than him, but the nights when it was solely his need that we focused on were my favorites. I loved being—not used—but something like it for his pleasure. When we were Master and Sub, it was a power dynamic I felt one hundred percent secure in. Apparently, he did not.

"Jasper, I know you trust me. I need you to take a leap of faith with me. It's just for a year and a day."


End file.
